Published 4:00 am, Thursday, April 29, 1999

"It was so close, that was the heartbreaking part of it," Scios chief executive Richard Brewer said yesterday.

Scios shares plummeted $5.88 to close at $3.81, making it the biggest percentage loser on Wall Street.

Scios had been seeking FDA permission to sell Natrecor, a drug that relaxes blood vessels to ease the buildup of fluids in the chest that can put a painful, and potentially deadly, squeeze on the heart muscle.

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Brewer said the agency decided Scios had not tested Natrecor on enough patients. The company had given the proposed drug to 500 people with congestive heart failure.

Brewer said the letter indicated the FDA feared that Natrecor might relax the blood vessels too much, causing dangerously low blood pressure that could bring on strokes or other conditions in some circumstances.

He said Scios officials will meet with the FDA next week to see what sort of tests the agency might seek to alleviate these concerns about possible side effects. Even if the company is ultimately successful, it could easily take a year to perform the additional tests.

Separately, Scios said it had a net loss of $9.9 million (26 cents per share) in the quarter ended March 31 compared to net income of $1.3 million (3 cents) in the year-earlier period.

The company said the decrease in earnings was due in part to restructuring charges. Scios laid off a third of its workforce in March.

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